The present invention relates to an adapter for providing power to a conventional hand operated reloader for firearm cartridges. Most competitive shooters own a hand operated reloader for several reasons. First of all, it is much easier to maintain quality control by loading one's own shells. Through trail and error a shooter decides on an optimum powder charge for his or her personal preference and then makes sure that each cartridge which is reloaded contains that particular charge. Secondly, there is a considerable financial savings by reloading cartridges, particularly shot gun shells for trap shooting. A great number of cartridges are fired during each competitive event. If the shooter enters several events a year, the savings from reloading justifies the cost of the reloader. The cost of the reloader is recouped in savings in a relatively short time. Most shooters start with a relatively simple and inexpensive reloader and gradually move up to more expense and complex reloaders. For very serious shooters, the added expense of a complex reloader is justified by the savings. In addition to the savings, production of reloaded shells becomes a significant factor when large numbers of cartridges are involved. The shooter finds that he or she spends more time reloading cartridges than discharging them during competitions. For shotgun shells, reloading involves eight separate operations. This time factor is eased considerably by using sequential reloader which performs all eight operations simultaneously. The eight operations are performed on eight different shells which are processed sequentially. The reloader has eight station fixtures on a fixed base and eight complimentary lower fixtures omn a movable base. In addition, the lower fixtures which carry the shells are indexed progressively from vertical alignment with one station into vertical alignment with next station in the sequence. The movable base is moved toward and from the fixed base by a crank mechanism which is driven by the oscillation of a horizontal drive shaft. The drive shaft is oscillated by an elongated hand operated lever. An empty shell is positioned on a starting fixture when the movable base is in the up position. When the movable base is lowered, the empty shell projects into the first lower fixture. At this point, a wad is placed in a wad fixture which swing into alignment between a pair of complimentary upper and lower fixtures when the movable base is again raised. When the movable base is raised, the first shell is indexed into vertical alignment with the second station and a second shell is positioned on the starting fixture. Another oscillation of the drive shaft causes the second step to be performed on the first shell and the first step to be performed on the second shell. The first shell then moves beneath the third station, the second shell moves beneath the second station and a third shell is added to the starting fixture. As the shells progress from station to station, additional empty shells are added to the starting fixture of the reloader. When all of the fixtures of the movable base are occupied with shells, for each subsequent oscillation of the drive shaft, a completed cartridge is automatically removed from the reloader and a empty shell is added to the starting fixture. The sequential loader increases reloading productivity considerably but a considerable amount of time is still spent in reloading, probably as much time as shooting. There had been attempts to provide power to hand operated reloaders with limited success. In some cases a hand operated reloader is permanently converted into a power driven machine which takes a considerable amount of time to accomplish so that the shooter does not have the use of the reloader during the conversion. All attempts to provide a drive unit which can be attached to the reloader by the shooter had been unsuccessful. Brute power is not enough many of the operations are delicate and must be performed with controlled power. In some cases hydraudlic actuators are applied directly to the movable base for vertically reciprocating the base. This approach has met with limited success. Since the reloader is designed for actuation by the oscillation of the drive shaft providing power in any other way causes problems during reloading such as james and improperly loaded cartridges. Attempts to oscillate the drive shaft by power means have not been successfully since it is difficult to duplicate the precise hand control for which the reloader is designed. These and other difficulties experienced with prior attempts to provide power to hand operated firearm cartridge reloaders have been obviated by the present invention.
It is, therefore, a principle object of the invention to provide a drive adapter for a hand operated firearm cartridge reloader which enables the drive shaft of the reloader to be oscillated under power but in full control of the operator.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a drive adapter for a hand operated firearm cartridge reloader which utilizes a fluid oscillator for oscillating the drive shaft of the reloader and control means which enables the operator to manually and selectively control each half of the oscillation of the drive shaft.
A Further object of the present invention is the provision of a drive adaptor for a hand operated firarm cartridge reloader which is adaptable to a plurality of types and models of conventional reloaders.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an adapter for a firearm cartridge reloader which is simple in construction, is reliable and easy to operate.
With these and other objects in view as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.